News

Online sales are the lone bright spot for Abercrombie & Fitch in Q3

November 22, 2013 09:52 AM

Online sales grew 10% year over year in the third quarter for Abercrombie & Fitch Co., while its total sales fell nearly 12%. The youth-focused apparel retailer is No. 47 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

For the quarter ended Nov. 2, the retailer reported:

• E-commerce sales of $174.6 million, up 10.3% from $158.3 million the same period last year.

• Total net sales of $1.03 billion, down about 12% from $1.17 billion.

• Total U.S. sales, including e-commerce, decreased 17.6% to $674.9 million from $818.6 million.

• Total international sales, including the web, increased 2.1% to $358.4 million from $351.1 million.

• A net loss of $15.6 million compared with net income of $71.5 million last year.

Internet Retailer calculates that web sales accounted for nearly 17.0% of total sales, compared to 13.5% in the same period a year earlier.

“Our results for the third quarter reflect weakness in top-line performance, which we expect to continue in the fourth quarter,” says CEO and chairman Mike Jeffries. “However, we continue to work hard to offset these conditions and are aggressively pursuing initiatives we believe will improve the sales trend as we go forward.”

For the first three quarters of the year, Abercrombie & Fitch reported:

• E-commerce sales of $461.6 million, up 6.3% from $434.2 billion last year.

• Total net sales of $2.82 billion, down about 7.2% from $3.04 billion last year.

• Net loss of $11.5 million compared with a profit of $79.8 million last year.

Internet Retailer calculates that web sales accounted for nearly 16.4% of total sales, compared to 14.3% in the same period a year earlier.